How to Take a Social Media Sabbatical Without Losing Momentum (Especially for Busy Moms in Business)

Social media shouldn’t feel like gas station food—filling you up without actually nourishing you. And if you’ve been scrolling late at night, feeling drained, overstimulated, or creatively flat, this episode is your permission slip to take a social media sabbatical.

In this conversation, Ruthie breaks down how to step away from the apps without losing connection, momentum, or visibility. You’ll learn the simple six-step checklist she uses with clients inside The Corner Office, how to decide whether to announce your break, and what to do before logging off to keep your audience supported and your business running.

Plus, Ruthie shares exactly how to return in a way that feels natural—not awkward or overexplained—by focusing on audience-centered content, gentle reconnection, and a five-day rhythm to rebuild momentum.

If you’re a busy mom running a business (and carrying 90% of the mental load), this episode will help you reset your relationship with social media, protect your energy, and build healthier rhythms heading into the new year.

✨ Want the freedom to take a sabbatical anytime? Grab The Corner Office Service Guide to learn how we can take social media off your to-do list for good.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode, and follow along over on Instagram!
@ruthie.sterrett
@theconsistencycorner

Transcript

Ruthie Sterrett (00:01.842)

Welcome to the Consistency Corner podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Today, we are talking about the art of a social media sabbatical. How to take a break and come back smoothly. Let me know if this resonates. Have you ever caught yourself scrolling? You should be asleep, your thumb is sore, your brain's a little foggy, and you're wondering, why are you still up? Why are you still on this app?

Yeah, that's usually the moment that I know I need a break. Let's call it a social media sabbatical. And no, it's not a dramatic disappearing act. It's a pause, a reset, a detox, a way to come back to your work, your creativity, your family, and even your own thoughts with a little more breathing room. This time of year gets super busy.

school concerts, holiday parties, travel, clients trying to wrap up projects before end of year, you trying to wrap up projects before end of year, presents, family get togethers, like all the things. And somehow your feed, the algorithm, the content hamster wheel, is still expecting fresh posts every day. And for many of us, moms running businesses, the mental load doubles.

while the creative energy cuts in half, especially if you're in the season of elf on the shelf and you gotta figure out where that guy is gonna wake up every morning. But when social media starts feeling less like connection, more like gas station food, which we talked about in a recent episode, where it fills you up but it doesn't nourish you, it's time to take a break. If you're picking up your phone, you're craving connection,

and you're setting it down, feeling even emptier, that is a signal that it's time for a detox. If screen time reports keep climbing or every scroll leaves you more stressed, that's a signal too. A social media sabbatical is not quitting, it's listening. It's acknowledging that you can't pour strategy from an empty cup and that the social media atmosphere

Ruthie Sterrett (02:20.718)

environment is draining your cup. So you decide you're going to take a break. You're going to take a little detox. Should you announce your break? Short answer, not always. Not usually, actually. If you're stepping away for a couple of days just to step away, no one needs a like BRB post for a weekend off or even a couple of weekdays off. It's not 2002. It's not your aim away message.

remember those. But if it's going to be a week or more, a soft announcement might help set some expectations. A simple like in your stories, hey, I'm taking a short detox, making some space for a few things. I will be back soon. That's it. No apology, no long explanation. But I think it's nice to maybe share that behind the scenes because it gives our communities our audience permission to also

take breaks and do what we need to do as humans. For longer breaks, let's say two weeks or more, you can pair that with a pinned post or a three grid or even an update in your bio of like out of office or offline for a bit. And if you're using your email list, make sure that you've got regular email communication going out so you're continuing to stay top of mind and connecting with your audience. You're just keeping it informative.

You're not being dramatic. You're setting some boundaries. You're not broadcasting that like, hello, I'm not going to be at the party anymore. It's just a matter of connecting with your audience, right? So before we take our social media sabbatical, I've got a six step checklist for you to go through. Number one, what's your goal? Is it rest? Is it family time? Is it focus time on other activities?

Knowing why you are logging off will keep you from drifting back to the thing that keeps pulling us in. Because remember, these apps, they are designed to keep you on them. That's literally what their job is. Number two, decide your visibility. Is this a full on break or is there gonna be minimal presence? Are you gonna schedule some posts during this time, but you're just not showing up on stories or in the DMs or the comments?

Ruthie Sterrett (04:46.67)

Do have a three grid? If it's a longer break, a nine grid could work beautifully as your digital storefront. And then that way, whenever somebody does land on your profile because they connect with you in another way and go to look you up on social media like we do, there's content there for them to consume that is intentional. But if it's not a season where you need a nine grid or an updated three grid or even that like pinned post or bio update of like out of office,

decide are you showing up in stories or not. Maybe it's one story a day that you're connecting. Maybe you're eliminating the app off your phone altogether because sometimes that's what you need to do to break those habits. But number three, after we've defined our goal and we've decided what our visibility will be during this break, we're going to decide how we're announcing it. Or if we're setting up like

an auto-reply to messages if you do get a lot of DMs, just letting people know, I might be slow to respond, taking a little bit of a social media break. Or again, if it's a pinned post, an update to your bio, or something in the highlight bubbles, just signaling to your audience like, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Number four, checking in on your many chat automations. Now, if you have not heard of many chat, we talked about it in a recent episode, all about engagement.

So go back and listen to that one. But if you have sales that you would like to keep moving during your social media break, you can set up many chat automations that send links to opt-ins, to products, whatever, to get DM conversations going and have them be automated. And then, whether you have a team member handling engagement in your inbox or you're just leaving it left unread,

you know that at least something has gone out to your audience if they opt in and say like, hey, yeah, send me this thing from one of your existing pinned posts. Or maybe you had a reel that like went viral and people are continuing to find you and find your content even after you've logged off. So look at your DM automations. And number five, schedule or repurpose one or two evergreen pieces of content. Now this is especially if you're going to be taking a break that's a week or more.

Ruthie Sterrett (07:07.53)

and you're not doing a nine grid or a three grid. Just pull some older content that resonated and repost them. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just keep the algorithm being fed a little bit so that you don't have to revive it when you come back. And then number six, decide if anybody is watching the door or the comments section and DMs. If you do have a DBA or a teammate, you might let them peek at comments once a week.

or if it's just you, silence the notifications so you're not tempted to go in there and answer them if it's not critical. And obviously all of these decisions are gonna vary based upon your business goals, the size of your audience, what season you're in in terms of campaigns on the customer journey and selling, but it's just all things to think about before you take that intentional social media sabbatical. Now, I mentioned the algorithm, and this is the part that everybody gets worried about.

And I want to be honest, your reach might dip a bit when you hit pause, or it might spike and then dip again, but it'll come back. And the algorithm favors connection, not constant being fed. So remember we've talked a little bit about engagement in DMs and how important that is to signal to the algorithm, the relationships, and we talked about this in the...

engagement episode, but know that if you do have a little bit of a dip in visibility and engagement that it can level back out because we do have to train the algorithm to understand what to expect from us. You want to think about your visibility almost like a friendship. If you don't talk for a few weeks, you don't stop being friends. You just pick up where you left off. And consistency is not the same as being constantly

online. So what about when you come back? This is the part that so many people overthink and Colleen Nichols who is the author of a great book called Don't Make It Weird How to Be a Human on the Internet, give her a follow on Instagram. No Shame Sales Game is her business handle. Colleen Nichols is her personal handle. But she has a great analogy that she talks about of whether or not you should announce when you come back.

Ruthie Sterrett (09:36.399)

And what she says is if you left a party to go to the bathroom, you would not come back and be like, hey everybody, I'm back from the bathroom. I'm just ready to rejoin the conversation. No, no, no. You would just walk back into the conversation, right? And talk to people. Social media is the same way. When you're ready, just rejoin. You don't have to do like a, hey, I'm back. There's been so much going on behind the scenes. I've got to update you since I haven't been here. What we really want to do is start with some.

audience-centered content. Make it engaging. Ask a poll. Ask a question. Invite conversation. And then if you do want to do a feed post, a story with a quick recap of what happened while you were off the app, do something that has value, a tip, a reframe, a relatable thought. And if you want to share some behind the scenes

a carousel or a reel or a life lately photo dump, that's okay too. It humanizes you without turning the spotlight inward. And that type of content does resonate with our audiences, but we don't have to overthink it. It doesn't have to be like, here's my photo dump. And then the caption being like, Hey guys, I took a couple of weeks off of social media. It's like, no life lately. Here's what I've been up to. You don't need a grand reentry plan.

You just need to show up again like the friend who has always been part of the conversation. So let's talk a little bit more about the emotional side and the boundaries and mental health considerations when it comes to social media. Sometimes a sabbatical is less about strategy and more about your sanity. When you're overwhelmed by the news cycle, when every post feels loud and your creativity feels flat, you don't owe the internet your presence.

You gotta take a cue from your own body. If your jaw tightens every time you open Instagram, if you catch yourself doom scrolling down the rabbit hole of polarizing political depressing content, or if you're refreshing insights more than you're enjoying creating, that's all data, which is really emotional data of how we're feeling and that we're feeling the need to step away.

Ruthie Sterrett (11:59.769)

to refocus on real connection. Have coffee with a friend. Enjoy a family movie night. Spend some time outdoors. I know where most of y'all live. It's probably cold. I'm so freaking lucky to be here in Florida and I can go outside and touch grass in December. But even if it's like going and driving around and looking at the Christmas lights with the Insane Colony album playing in the background, that sounds like a fun time, or journaling or listening to your favorite playlist, taking a walk, whatever nourishes you that is not.

getting stuck in the scroll. Remember, social media, these apps, they are designed to keep you consuming. But creation and connection can live outside of the scroll. And if you're like totally done with all of it, and you're like, I just want to throw my phone in lake, I don't want to do this anymore, these apps are draining me so much, well, let's have a conversation and talk about working with the corner office in 2026 so we can fully take social media off your to-do list.

But you might also think about a light mode for your content, such as your three grid. Refresh it with intro post, who you help with maybe a freebie or lead magnet, and then how to work with you and your offers. And that's enough for this month. That's enough while you juggle all the other things. And maybe one story every few days, a photo, a quote, something human, even sharing another

person's piece of content with a few notes of how it resonates with you. That's enough to keep the connection going without drowning in the chaos of the algorithm and the app. Here's your reminder. Nobody notices the timeline as much as you do. You can post a picture from last week and nobody will ask, hey, was that actually Thursday or Friday? But you said it was today. Nobody cares. Share when it fits.

not when it happens. Because your audience is not keeping score. They're not paying that close of attention. mean, unless you're Taylor Swift, which, hey, Taylor, if you're listening, really loved Life of a Showgirl. But your audience, they're just happy when you show up with something real because we're opening social media, craving connection. So when you're ready to fully return, you might even think like, I don't even remember how to do this. I don't remember what to post. I don't know what to say.

Ruthie Sterrett (14:28.878)

How do I talk in stories? Here's like a little five day rhythm that you could jot down in your planner as a way to just get back into it. On the first day, hop in stories, ask people, what have been up to? How are you holding up? If it's a Monday, how is your weekend? If it's post holidays, you know, is your tree still up or have you on team take it down January 1st? Day number two, spend some time engaging.

commenting, DMing your favorite people and just be a human having conversations. No, hey girl energy, okay? Day number three, share a value post. A tip, a myth, some education, a reframe, some encouragement, not selling. Day number four, maybe do that personal reflection.

share some behind the scenes and stories or do that reflection photo dump life lately style post. And then number five or day five, let's get back to something educational or moving the needle forward in terms of the customer journey and selling and talk about one of your offers. If you want to skip a day, that's fine. The point is just building back the momentum up, not checking the boxes perfectly for performance.

You don't have to earn a break on social media. You just have to decide when you need one. And taking a digital detox or a social media sabbatical doesn't make you flaky. It makes you intentional. You're building a business that fits your life, not the other way around. And like I said, if that digital detox needs to be longer than a couple days or even a couple weeks, let's have a conversation about how the corner office can take social media off your to-do list for good.

Because humans are on social media and your business does need to be present there. I hate to tell you, but I truly believe in 2026 people are still on social media. United States, especially if you're a US-based business, is the only country that social media consumption and time on the apps continues to trend up when all of the other countries are trending down. So people are there. And what you do matters. And if we want to connect with people where they are,

Ruthie Sterrett (16:50.028)

Having a presence on social media really does make a difference. But here's my invitation for you today. Think about what a sabbatical, a digital detox could look for you in this season. Maybe it's three days, maybe it's three weeks. Choose the style, whether it's silent, soft, or full on unplugged, mark it on your calendar. Text a friend and let her know so she can hold you accountable.

Because believe me, when we say we're not gonna post or we're not gonna create content, but we still show up and scroll, that's not a digital detox, okay? That's not serving the purpose of a sabbatical. And plan to do something nourishing with some of that reclaimed time. Read a book, bake cookies, dream about the next quarter, get that 2026 calendar and pencil in your launches.

I mean, that's fun for me. I don't know if it's fun for everybody, but do something that fills you instead of your feed. And if the idea of planning that break feels overwhelming, if you'd love the freedom to step away knowing that your content, your engagement, your community is still being cared for, that's literally what we do at the corner office. So you can grab our service guide and learn more about how to work with us in 2026. But just remember that rest shouldn't require a 40 step checklist. It should just be rest.

And here's to building a business that gives you breathing room, both on and off the apps. Thank you so much for being here, friends, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, and we'll see you in the next episode.